Nationals unkind to men’s soccer
PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Throughout the men’s soccer season, Illinois Central College had a run of amazing results. Throughout 18 games ICC conceded only 11 goals, but they would go on to concede almost half of those goals in just 2 games in nationals.
ICC were one of the favorites going into the national fixtures, with a 17-1 record. Entering the tournament #2 seed, Coach Oz Bakirdan and his team were full of confidence going off of back to back trophies. Oz’s magical touch seemed to have disappeared though after leaving Illinois.
ICC started their first fixture with a 2-1 lost against Hill College, who came into nationals as a lower end team. This drove their confidence down and ICC ended up losing their second fixture 3-0 against Trinidad State Junior College.
ICC was only able to get 7 shots while TSJC registered more than 3 times that with 24 shots. The Cougars were given no space to express themselves and both teams limited ICC’s threat on goal by limiting their shots on goal. ICC had scored 7 goals total in the past two games but only registered 1 at nationals.
ICC’s defense had been one of the best in the nation as they had not conceded a single goal in the last 5 matches before nationals, but they then conceded 5 goals in 2 games at nationals.
There are many potential reasons that ICC could have stumbled at Nationals. Perhaps the long trip to Arizona or the lack of fan support at the tournament or overconfidence were contributing factors.
Even though ICC came home fruitless from the National Tournament, things were not as droughtfull as they appeared. ICC came back with three regional awards. Carson Gray came back with the player of the year award while Adama Kieta was the top defensive player of the year. And Magical Wizard Oz received coach of the year award.
Unfortunately, Adama and Carson are both sophomores and ICC won’t benefit from their talent next year. This is the case with eight other players, as well, so ICC and Coach Oz will need to have a successful recruitment season during the summer if they want to keep their hopes of reaching nationals again.